SRD5:Speak with Dead

This material from the 5th edition (2014) SRD v5.1 is published under the OGL and CC-BY

Speak with Dead is a spell in 5th edition.

5e Spell Speak with Dead
3rd-level necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (burning incense)
Duration: 10 minutes
Casters: Bard, Cleric, Wizard

You grant the semblance of life and intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer the questions you pose. The corpse must still have a mouth and can’t be undead. The spell fails if the corpse was the target of this spell within the last 10 days.

Until the spell ends, you can ask the corpse up to five questions. The corpse knows only what it knew in life, including the languages it knew. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the corpse is under no compulsion to offer a truthful answer if you are hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. This spell doesn’t return the creature’s soul to its body, only its animating spirit. Thus, the corpse can’t learn new information, doesn’t comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can’t speculate about future events.

Sources and Notes

• Wizards RPG Team (6 May 2015). SRD-OGL v5.1. (5e 2014) Wizards of the Coast.
• Wizards RPG Team (19 August 2014). Player's Handbook. (5e 2014) Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0786965606. p. 207-208, 277.
• Jeremy Crawford, Dan Dillon, Ben Petrisor, Taymoor Rehman (17 November 2020). Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. (5e 2014) Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 9780786967025. p. 75.

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